Burning Punky Wood. Do You?

GolfandWoodNut I burned some in the shoulder season this fall, it was holding down our tarps covering the wood last winter and the two things I did in the spring was split it then stacked it.

zap

GolfandWoodNut said:

Interesting ZAP, if anyone can be picky it is you.

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I left it big the year before because it was gnarly so it needed splitting but yes I guess I'm picky, cooling off here how about for you.


zap

Perfect time of year for burnin punk and chunks.

Yep, I took down a maple this summer, had a limb that was punky. I put that stuff in a nice dryin' place for a couple months, and just got done burnin' the last of it.

Now I'll move on to the chunks and little stuff.

I burn quite a bit of it in shoulder season. Tell you one thing it doesn't take long for it to dry once it's elevated off the ground either.

I don't seek it out, but I'll burn it if it's dry.

If its not too punky I'll generally go ahead and burn it in the stove; if it' fairly punky, it gets burned outdoors; if it's 'punky brewster'-level punky, it's left on the ground to feed the worms and fungi

I moved four truck loads over to the house today. Looks like I'll be filling the stove a little more often than I like. A lot of it was punky.

GolfandWoodNut said:

I am lucky that i can be pretty picky about my wood. But inevitably I get some punky wood. I sometimes just toss it and sometimes I dry it out and burn it. Not sure what I really think. I almost feel like it is firewood overripe. Is it safe to burn? I do find it seems to burn slowly for a long time. I would not think it is full of cresote since it seems very light. What are your thoughts? Is it better tossed or burn in the shoulder season?

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If it's potentially burnable, it gets time in the sun before & after splitting. Then, as soon as reasonably possible, it goes into the stove- on established fire, with extra air, slowly. Depending, I burn the worst stuff that might be suitable for the moment. Punky poo does not get prime storage location.

If beyond hope, it becomes compost. Works so far (~35 years.)

Creosote is not a component of wood. It's unburnt distillate that precipitates when temps are low enough. Moisture tends to depress temps.

I burn lots of cottonwood that was dead standing because the lake it was buy came up several feet. All of the cottonwood I cut is completely dry and ready to burn (a lot of it has been standing dead for 10 to 15 years). The bottom 5 to 10 feet of the tree is almost always punky. The property owner wants me to cut it off as close to the ice as I can so I wind up taking it home to satisfy him. I split and stack it on the smaller part of my shed and let it sit for a year. Then I burn it in the fall, in fact I'm burning it right now. I've got 2.5 to 3 cord left of it and I'm going to burn it all up I hope. Only problem I have is it burns up pretty fast, and seems to leave clumps in the ashes. As someone else stated I do only put it on a well established fire or bed of coals. If I didn't have to take it I wouldn't burn it, but if I have to haul it home by god it's going through the stove!

If only a little punk I'll burn it. If the whole thing is punky, around here it get thrown on a brush pile.

savageactor7 said:

I burn quite a bit of it in shoulder season. Tell you one thing it doesn't take long for it to dry once it's elevated off the ground either.

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I have been surprised at how well my load of punk has dried atop my stacks, and it burned well enough that I am sorry I didn't grab more, was a huge pile of Silver Maple I passed on with the exception of a few pieces.

Just a little punky and dry . . . I'll save it for burning in the shoulder season with my chunks and uglies.

Just a little punky and wet . . . I'll often hack off the offending punkiness and burn the rest of the wood.

All punky . . . dry or wet . . . I'll leave it in the woods to fertilize the other trees.